England faces housing gap of 750,000 properties by 2025

England faces housing gap of 750,000 properties by 2025

17:40 PM, 14th March 2011, About 14 years ago

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England faces a shortage of up to 750,000 homes by 2025 according to an analysis of government projections by think-tank the Insitute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

The IPPR has applied three economic scenarios to the government statistics and claims they all show a call for new homes to be built at a rate of between 200,000 and 280,000 properties a year.

The figures are broken down by region, and the only area where supply will match demand is the north west.

The report highlights that the fact that houses simply are not being built fast enough to meet demand.

IPPR director Nick Pearce: “We can’t go on as we have done. Britain needs to build more homes. That’s not going to happen without a fundamental review of housing policy. This new analysis shows the serious scale of the problem.

“If the rate of house building doesn’t radically increase, we face a growing housing crisis. Whether the economy performs well or poorly, a serious gap looms between housing supply and demand. Our ageing population and rising expectations for living standards are going to drive up demand but if there’s no change in housing policy it will seriously hold back supply.”

The analysis shows that even a poor performing economy will lead to demand for more than 200,000 extra homes each year.

The best case scenario calls for more than 280,000 extra homes each year, but if housing supply continues at the rate of the last 20 years – around 160,000 new builds a year – the gap between the number of households and the number of available homes ranges from 255,000 and 1.2 million by 2025.

The government’s own projection for household growth shows that England will be 750,000 homes short of the required housing demand by 2025.


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